A 26-year-old Pa­lo Seco man is in po­lice cus­tody as in­ves­ti­ga­tors con­tin­ue prob­ing the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the death of 12-year-old Mer­cedez Layne, whose body was dis­cov­ered in Erin on Sun­day morn­ing, just hours af­ter she was re­port­ed miss­ing.

Po­lice say Mer­cedez, of Los Iros Beach Road, Erin, was re­port­ed miss­ing at ap­prox­i­mate­ly 4 p.m. on Sat­ur­day by her grand­fa­ther, who lives at Loren­sotte North Trace, Ran­cho Que­ma­do.

The child had re­port­ed­ly spent the pre­vi­ous night at her grand­fa­ther’s home.